Desertification is the degradation of formerly productive land. It occurs all over the world but is only referred to as desertification when it takes place in dry lands. This involves the depletion of vegetation and soils. Desertification has always been around: the world’s greatest deserts were formed by natural processes interacting over long intervals of time. There are many arguments over the cause of desertification. They include climate change, human activities, clearing and cultivation of low-rainfall areas, and drought. This has a huge impact on the people and the environment.

Contents

1. The Cause
2. Desert Land Conditions
3. Early History of Desertification in Africa
4. Desertification and the People
5. What’s Being Done
6. Works Cited and Links

The Cause

Desertification is caused by a combination of factors that change over time and vary by location. These factors include population pressure, socioeconomic policy factors, international trade and land use along with climate related processes such as drought. The major cause is the people putting too much pressure on delicate soils and ecosystems in ‘dryland’ areas. Another major factor is deforestation. Trees hold the soil together and help water the land by channeling rainwater into the soil. When they are chopped down, the soil is again eroded by the elements, and is unable to hold water. All of this leads to the acceleration of land degradation, poverty and migration.

Desert Land Conditions

Desertification is devouring more than 20,000 square miles of land worldwide every year. In Africa, more than 2.4 million acres of land (73% of its drylands) are affected by desertification. Just 5,000 years ago the Sahara was covered with grasses and shrubs. Now it consists of basically two sub-climates, a dry subtropical climate in the north and a dry tropical climate in the south. The average rainfall in the subtropical region is approximately 3 inches (76 mm) per year. The temperatures in this kind of region can go below freezing at night and can go over 130 deg. F during the day.

Just like all other dessert climates the topographical features include shallow basins, large oasis depressions, serirs or regs (gravel-covered plains), plateaus, mountains, sand sheets and sand dunes.

Early History of Desertification in Africa

The drought in the African Sahel which began in 1968 and which by 1971 had resulted in at least 100,000 deaths and many times more refugees was when the term "desertification" came into international use. The drought served as a catalyst to reveal the damage caused by over cultivation and overgrazing. The resulting conditions made it seem the Sahara was expanding.

Desertification and the People

Historically, the livelihoods of people in the drylands depended on hunting, gathering, farming, and herding. Population pressure, however, has led to the extension of cultivated lands in dryland areas. This has, in some cases, caused conflict between herders and farmers. Growing populations are another problem as well, adding more demand for food, leading to overgrazing and ultimately accelerating the desertification process. 

What's Being Done

 124 countries have so far signed and ratified the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. This is an international treaty, which was developed from the 1992 Earth Summit, where governments met to discuss global environmental problems. African leaders insisted that the problem of land degradation be given high priority by world leaders, and the Desertification Convention was the result. The UN adopted the Convention in 1994. The Convention gives priority to Africa, and it commits every government that signs it to draw up a national strategy to deal with land degradation, to set aside sufficient funds to tackle the problem, and to consult local people before any decisions are taken. The Desertification Convention is the only UN treaty that encourages governments to involve local people in solving national problems. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, and the Department of Agriculture, are working to conserve water and to educate farmers about the problem and its solutions. The United Nations Environment Program has estimated that 4.2 billion dollars will need to be spent every year for the next twenty years to prevent the process of desertification.